After 4 days of positive and constructive discussion, the second round of the bilateral negotiation on Economic Partner Agreement (EPA) between Vietnam and Japan ended in Hanoi on March 30th.

At the press conference on March 30th, Mr. Tanabe, Vice-Minister of Economic Department, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered this round a good fundamental for the next rounds. Expectedly, the third round will take place in May or June.

According to Tanabe, Japanese enterprises want to push up outside investments and Vietnam is a potential destination. EPA progresses will stimulate investments from Japan into Vietnam.

Japan has signed EPA with Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and is now on preparation to sign with Thailand. In addition to Vietnam, Indonesia and Brunei are on negotiation with Japan on EPA, too. “We hope that Vietnam and Japan will have good negotiations so as not to be late in comparison with other countries,” said Tanabe.

Tanabe said that Vietnam-Japan negotiations have been in advantages. While the first round was to sound out partner’s attitude, the second one got into more detailed  information. However, he refused to reveal that information.

According to Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ website, in the second round, the negotiations focused on many aspects including goods and service trading in order to sign the agreement soon.